{"id":37801,"date":"2016-07-26T11:55:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T15:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=37801"},"modified":"2016-07-26T11:55:20","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T15:55:20","slug":"scrutiny-jamie-barton-toronto-summer-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/07\/26\/scrutiny-jamie-barton-toronto-summer-music\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Jamie Barton\u2019s Resplendent Voice At Toronto Summer Music"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton (Photo: James M. Ireland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto Summer Music<\/h2>\n

Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano;\u00a0Bradley Moore, piano\u00a0at Koerner Hall Monday, July 25.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The highlight each year for Toronto voice fans is the mainstage vocal recital of the Toronto Summer Music Festival.\u00a0 Great singers the likes of Karita Mattila and Sondra Radvanovsky have appeared under the auspices of TSMF. This year, it\u2019s the terrific American mezzo, Jamie Barton. The Georgia native leapt to fame when she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the spring of 2007. The twists and turns of that competition were documented for posterity in The Audition<\/em>. \u00a0Toronto audiences first heard her as Emilia in Otello<\/em> for the Canadian Opera Company in 2010. \u00a0In 2013, she won the title of Cardiff Singer of the World, one of the most prestigious of vocal competitions. \u00a0Last year, she was a sensational alto soloist in the Verdi Requiem<\/em> with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n

She appeared last evening in recital at Koerner Hall, with collaborative pianist Bradley Moore, in a program of songs by Turina, Chausson, Schubert, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k, plus three American spirituals. The crowd wasn\u2019t as large as she deserved, but those that were there were discerning and appreciative. She began with three Joaquin Turina songs. The moment she opened her mouth, my jaw (figuratively) dropped. What a voice\u2026a true force of nature. Her mezzo is rich, smooth, creamy, voluminous, even up and down the scale, and used with style, taste and musicality. She followed it with three familiar songs by Chausson. Mostly soft, languid pieces, exquisitely sung in a honeyed mezza voce, particularly \u201cLe Temps des Lilas.\u201d\u00a0 Total, uncompromising technical control, a voice so rock solid that it sounds like it can do anything. Every note, every line was seamless and well supported, the mezza voce<\/em> always caressing, the fortissimi<\/em> pin you to your seat. The timbre maybe on the cool side, but her radiant smile truly exemplifies the joy of singing.<\/p>\n

The last group in the first half was four very familiar Schubert songs, including \u201cGretchen am Spinnrade\u201d and \u201cRastlose Liebe.\u201d One couldn\u2019t help but marvel at the gleaming tone, the evenness of production. If I were to quibble, I do find her vocal expressions to be a bit generalised when we are talking about the actual sound, although her facial expression and gestures amply demonstrated the requisite textual nuances. I also find her French and German diction to be a bit idiosyncratic. I can\u2019t comment on the Spanish or the Czech, but I know the Chausson and Schubert pieces well. No matter, with such an exceptional voice, I found myself just luxuriating in her sound.<\/p>\n

\"Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton; Bradley Moore, piano (Photo: James M. Ireland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second half opened with the seven songs that make up Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s Gypsy Songs<\/em>. This is a very famous cycle, not least of which is song No. 4, known in the English-speaking world as \u201cSongs My Mother Taught Me.\u201d \u00a0He composed these in 1880 set to text by Adolf Heyduk. It was originally composed for an Austrian tenor, in German. Today it\u2019s almost always sung in Czech. The songs are heavily influenced by local folk songs. It\u2019s said that there\u2019s a subtext in the songs, as the Gypsy is a strong symbol of freedom in the culture of Mitteleuropa. You also find that in Janacek\u2019s cycle, The Diary of One Who Disappeared,<\/em> which is about a man who runs away with a gypsy girl. The hidden message in the Dvorak cycle reflects the urge of the Czech people to be free from the ruling Habsburg Empire. Real or imagined?\u00a0 No matter. Barton sang these with great expression and attention to the text.<\/p>\n

She concluded the formal part of the program with three American spirituals, including \u201cSwing Low, Sweet Chariot\u201d and \u201cRide on King Jesus.\u201d Barton explained that as a native of Georgia, she grew up not with opera and classical music, but with Blue Grass and spirituals \u2014 \u201csince I\u2019ve been given ears by God!\u201d\u00a0 She also showed her down home style by saying to the audience: \u201cLet\u2019s get comfortable\u201d and proceeded to kick off her shoes! She delivered the spirituals magnificently, with admirable sincerity and simplicity. Nothing like an easy-going Yankee diva. And I can\u2019t say enough about the wonderful pianism of Bradley Moore, playing with rock solid security and sensitivity, unwavering in support of the singer, everything that a collaborative pianist should be. Bravi tutti!<\/p>\n

By then, the audience was eating out of her hand and wouldn\u2019t let her go. She was visibly moved by the generous ovations, rewarding the audience with first a Sibelius song, which is on her upcoming CD. Her second and last encore was Principessa di Boullion\u2019s aria, \u201cAcerba volutta\u201d from Adriana Lecouvreur<\/em> by Cilea. Okay, I\u2019m biassed \u2014 I really don\u2019t care much for this verismo<\/em> potboiler, even though my all-time favourite singer Renata Tebaldi made a meal of Adriana in the second half of her career when her voice was in decline. Barton pulled out all the stops, giving us torrents of sound, basso profundo chest tones and long, long, long-held high notes. This was the only opera in the whole program, and as expected, it brought huge cheers. A most satisfying end to a great recital.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss her upcoming appearance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in the fall, as the soloist in Mahler Third \u2014 a piece light years away from Adriana Lecouvreur<\/em>.\u00a0 I will be interviewing her for an article in Musical Toronto.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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American Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton brings a down home style to Koerner Hall, with collaborative pianist Bradley Moore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":37802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,76,19,52,59,70],"tags":[6276,3357],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/07\/Barton-22.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-9PH","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37801"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37806,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37801\/revisions\/37806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37801"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=37801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}